Music-sheet feeder



B. E. MILLS.

MUSIC SHEET FEEDER. APPLICAIION FILE-D AUG-3, 1921.

Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

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MUSIC SHEET FEEDER. APPLICATION men AUG.'3. 192 1.

1,4351; 14. Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

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B. E. MILLS.

MUSIC SHEET FEEDERQ APPLICATION FILED AUG 3 1921 1,435,614. Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

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Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERTIE E. MILLS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MILLS NOVELTY COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MUSIC-SHEET FEEDER.

Application filed August 3, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. BERTii-i E. AIILLF, a citizen of the United States, residing at 231 South Green Street, Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois. have invented a new and useful Improvement in Music-Sheet Feeders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the music-sheet feeder of U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,302,439 dated April 29, 1919 to H. K. Sandell; and it relates particularly to an in'iprovement in the means for automatically reversing the driving motor to re wind the music-sheet from the feed-roll upon the musics-ell.

The primary object of my improvement is to simplify the mechanism by dispensing with the solenoids (denoted 306 and 307 in Fig- 40 of said patent) and the plurality of contacts of the motor-controlling switch which is operated by the solenoids.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of the musicshect feeder embodying my improvement; Figure 2 is a partly broken view of the same in end elevation, and Figure 3 is a section on line 33, of Fig. 1, diagrammatically illus trated.

lVith the exception of my improved means, the mechanism may be that shown and described in the Letters Patent to which reference is made; so that only so much of. said mechanism illustrated in the present drawings need be described herein as is required for understanding the construction and operation in connection therewith of my improvement.

To facilitate identifying parts with the aforesaid patent, the reference-numerals in the latter are employed in the following description on corresponding parts to be described in connection with the present drawings.

The armature-shaft of the electric motor 70 carrying the fly-wheel 73, is provided with the studs 74 for engaging the T-head 7 5 of the worm-shaft 76 meshing with the housed worm-wheel 83 to drive the feedroll 55 for taking up from the music-roll 123 the music-sheet 213. The sheet crosses the contact-roll 148 in frictional driving contact therewith and against which the contactbrushes, one of which is represented at 203 in Fig. 3, hear when they register with per- Serial No. 489,470.

forations in the music-sheet. On the outer end of the music-roll drive-shaft 105 carrying the pinion 104, to which rotation is imparted by the gear 86 for rewinding the sheet through the idler 100, is the clutch-device involving the brake-shoe carrying arms 115. The stub-shaft 150 (Fig. 1), extending from an end of the contact-roll 148 and having a bearing in the governor-frame 165, carries the bevel gear 168 meshing with the bevel pinion 169 on the governor-shaft 170 carrying the wabble-governor 175 and the sliding collar 176 linked to the governor and serving to make contact with the brush 179 extending from the pendulum 180.

The bar 239 which extends from the arm 214 of the spring-retracted brush-carrying pivotal frame (denoted 195 in the aforesaid patent) engages, by the turning of the frame to drop the brushes 203 away from the contact-roller 148, the insulated spring-contact 240, all as explained in said patent, to re verse the motor for rewinding the sheet from the take-up roll onto the music-roll.

The roller 248 provided on one end of the spring-retracted bell-crank 246 to bear against the music-sheet. on the take-up roll 55, carries on its opposite end the spring controlled contact-finger 251 to engage, as and for the purpose hereinafter explained, the adjacent edge of the contact-plate 255 (Fig. of insulated material on the frame of the machine; and a spring-pressed contact-arm 5 pivoted to the support, which has a stop 6 to limit the movement of the arm under the tension of the spring 8, is provided to be engaged by a spring contactfinger 7 on the adjacent bell-crank arm.

The primary purpose of my improvement is the same as that of the rewinding mechanism in the said patent, that is to say, when the predetermined length or entire perforated portion of the sheet has been stripped from the music-roll, the driving motor is caused to automatically reverse, the brushframe will be tilted backwa-rdly to withdraw the brushes from contact with the musicsheet; the re-wind gear will be set. in motion, the motor-speed accelerated and the music-sheet re-wound upon the music-roll at desired accelerated speed. When the perforated sheet has been thus re-wound, the motor will again automatically reverse, the rewind gear will be released, t e brushcarrying frame will approach the music-sheet and bring the brushes into proper relation thereto, and the take-up roll driving-shaft will then be engaged and again driven in the playing direction. This I now accomplish in the following-described manner, reference being had particularly to Fig. 3:

The line-wires a and 7) may be those of any suitable constant potential circuit. The line-wire a is, in practice, grounded to the frame of the machine, the points of grounding being indicated at w, 2 and .2, respectively. At 9 is indicated the winding for the field which produces rotation of the armature for driving the take-up roll in the direction for winding the sheet upon it, and at 10 is indicated the reversing field. As the parts are represented in Fig. 3, the musiofeeder is in operating condition to cause the sheet to be wound upon the take-up roll from the musicroll, a switch-lever 12 then engaging a con tact 11 to close the circuit over the wire o and frame (from w to 1 through a resistance-coil 13 to the field 9 and thence over the return line-wire 7). A portion of the current passes from the resistance 13 over a branch a of the circuit to the governor, which oper ates as described in the said patent and performs no function in the rewinding operation.

The accumulation of the music-sheet on the take-up roll, in pushing against the roller 248, gradually turns the bell-crank 246 on its insulated fulcrum to bring the finger 7 into contact with the arm 5, the contact-finger 251 meantime snapping past the plate 255. The duration of the brush-contact with the roll 148 is only momentary, being followed by the turning of the brush-frame to withdraw the brushes away from the contactroll, with the result of bringing the bar 239 against the contact 240, all as explained in the said patent, whereby the current goes to the reversing field 10 as well as to the field 9. reversing the motor and causing the sheet to be speedily rewound from the take-up roll. upon the musimroll.

As the take-up roll becomes depleted, the resultant turning of the bell-crank under the force of its retracting spring separates the linger 7 from the arm 5, which would break the circuit with impulses owing to the imperfectly cylindrical condition of the re mainder of the sheet on the take-up roll, were it not that in the meantime the linger 251 has encountered and remained in ruhhing contact with the plate 255 to maintain the circuit-closure when the members and 7 separate, until the unwinding from the take-up roll terminates, whereupon the con tinued turning of the bell-crank will complete withdrawal of the finger 251 past the plate edge with the result of quickly open ing the circuit and reversing the motor into the playing direction.

When, while the music-sheet is traveling from the roll .123 to the roll. it is desired to reverse the motor for rewinding the sheet at any time before it has been completely wound upon the take-up roll, as for repeating one of a plurality of the musical. compositions which the music-sheet is adapted to reproduce, this may be done by manipulating the switch-lever 12 to bridge the two contacts 11 and 11, thereby causing the current to go, as the showing in Fig. 3 makes clear, to the reversing field and field 9.

In the diagrammatic view, the switch .12 is shown in dotted representation to be turned against a stop 1 2. In that position of the switch, the circuit is open and. the mo tor is not running.

I claim:

1. An electric music-sheet feeder comprising the rotatory sheet-ronnected music and talre-up rolls, an intermediate contact-roll .rotated by the sheet in travelling across it, a

reversible electric motor, brush-mechanism. cooperating with the contact-roll, a revers ing gear for the music-roll and a springretracted bell-crank having a roller on one end co-operating with the feed-roll, characterized by an electric circuit containing the contact-roll, the brushes and the bell-crank, a spring-pressed contact-arm included in said circuit with a contact-linger on the belleranlr, normally separated from said arm and brought into contact therewith to re verse the motor for rewinding the sheet by turning of the bell-crank by the take-up roll, and manually operated switch-mechanism for opening and closing the circuit.

2. The electric music-sheet feeder according to preceding claim 1. characterized by a spring-controlled pivotal contact-linger on the opposite end of the bell-crank and a contact-plate presenting an edge into the path of said linger, said plate and finger being included in the circuit.

3. The electric music-sheet feeder accord ing to preceding claim 1, characterized by the switchanechanism having one contact for the switch-lever controlling the motorfield for driving the take-up roll in the sheet-winding direction and a second contact controlling the reversing field of the motor when the switch-lever is bridged. across both contacts.

BERTIE E. MILLS. 

